retro
Quick-capture a learning. For full retrospectives, use $post-mortem. Trigger phrases: "quick learning", "capture lesson", "retro quick".
Best use case
retro is best used when you need a repeatable AI agent workflow instead of a one-off prompt.
Quick-capture a learning. For full retrospectives, use $post-mortem. Trigger phrases: "quick learning", "capture lesson", "retro quick".
Teams using retro should expect a more consistent output, faster repeated execution, less prompt rewriting.
When to use this skill
- You want a reusable workflow that can be run more than once with consistent structure.
When not to use this skill
- You only need a quick one-off answer and do not need a reusable workflow.
- You cannot install or maintain the underlying files, dependencies, or repository context.
Installation
Claude Code / Cursor / Codex
Manual Installation
- Download SKILL.md from GitHub
- Place it in
.claude/skills/retro/SKILL.mdinside your project - Restart your AI agent — it will auto-discover the skill
How retro Compares
| Feature / Agent | retro | Standard Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Support | Not specified | Limited / Varies |
| Context Awareness | High | Baseline |
| Installation Complexity | Unknown | N/A |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this skill do?
Quick-capture a learning. For full retrospectives, use $post-mortem. Trigger phrases: "quick learning", "capture lesson", "retro quick".
Where can I find the source code?
You can find the source code on GitHub using the link provided at the top of the page.
SKILL.md Source
# Retro Skill **YOU MUST EXECUTE THIS WORKFLOW. Do not just describe it.** Quick-capture a learning to the knowledge flywheel. For comprehensive retrospectives with backlog processing, activation, and retirement, use `$post-mortem`. ## Quick Mode Given `$retro --quick "insight text"` or `$retro "insight text"`: 1. Generate a slug from the content: first meaningful words, lowercase, hyphens, max 50 chars. 2. Resolve the active bead with `timeout_run 1 bd current 2>/dev/null || echo ""`. 3. Write directly to `.agents/learnings/YYYY-MM-DD-quick-<slug>.md`: ```markdown --- type: learning source: retro-quick source_bead: <active bead id when available> source_phase: validate date: YYYY-MM-DD maturity: provisional utility: 0.5 --- # Learning: <Short Title> **Category**: <auto-classify: debugging|architecture|process|testing|security> **Confidence**: medium ## What We Learned <user's insight text> ## Source Quick capture via `$retro --quick` ``` If no bead is active, omit `source_bead` intentionally and still set `source_phase: validate`. 4. Confirm: ``` Learned: <one-line summary> Saved to: .agents/learnings/YYYY-MM-DD-quick-<slug>.md For comprehensive knowledge extraction, use `$post-mortem`. ``` **Done.** Return immediately after confirmation. ## Examples **User says:** `$retro --quick "macOS cp alias prompts on overwrite — use /bin/cp to bypass"` **What happens:** 1. Agent generates slug: `macos-cp-alias-overwrite` 2. Agent resolves the active bead with `timeout_run 1 bd current 2>/dev/null || echo ""` 3. Agent writes learning to `.agents/learnings/2026-03-03-quick-macos-cp-alias-overwrite.md` with provenance fields like: ```markdown --- type: learning source: retro-quick source_bead: bd-123 source_phase: validate date: 2026-03-03 maturity: provisional utility: 0.5 --- ``` 4. Agent confirms: `Learned: macOS cp alias prompts — use /bin/cp` ## Troubleshooting | Problem | Cause | Solution | |---------|-------|----------| | Learning too generic | Surface-level capture | Be specific: "auth tokens expire after 1h" not "learned about auth" | | Duplicate learnings | Same insight captured twice | Check existing learnings with grep before writing | | Need full retrospective | Quick capture isn't enough | Use `$post-mortem` for comprehensive extraction + processing | ## Local Resources ### scripts/ - `scripts/validate.sh`
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